Lake Bruin State Park, one of twenty Louisiana state parks, is located on Lake Bruin, a clear ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River near St. Joseph, the seat of Tensas Parish in the northeastern portion of the state. The lake consists of more than 3,000 acres (12 km²) of water surface. Park visitors enjoy fishing, water sports, and camping. There are cypress trees in the lake which have stood since before the Spaniard Hernando de Soto traveled through the region in the 1540s.[1] The 53-acre (210,000 m2) park was established in 1928 as a fish hatchery.[2]